When all is said and done
by Pegship
Summary: An alternate ending to the series, wherein nobody gets shot and Ryan saves the day. For remuslovestonks, from your Castle Secret Santa!


_**A/N** : For remuslovestonks - Happy New Year from your Castle Secret Santa! (An alternate ending to the series, wherein nobody gets shot and Ryan saves the day.)_

* * *

When all was said and done, the detectives of the 12th precinct knew that all would never be said or done. There was always another body, and paperwork to fill in the lulls. Which was why Javier Esposito and Kevin Ryan had dragged Vikram Singh out to a cop bar at 8:30 in the morning, after a night of chasing, taking down, and assisting in the arrest of dozens of alleged members of a huge drug and money-laundering cartel.

Ryan's beer was only half gone when he said suddenly, "Why was Caleb Brown in the trunk?"

His partner groaned.

"Not our problem," said Esposito. "Now that we know he was involved, I say good riddance."

"The car was deliberately set on fire," Ryan persisted. "Premeditated. And yet the killer left Caleb's metal case, which survived the fire - "

"Which was empty and therefore not incriminating," Vikram put in.

"And somehow, while locked in the trunk and knowing the car was on fire, the victim managed to scratch some cryptic letters in the hood." Ryan shook his head. "Even if he'd been able to leave the messages, why not write 'LokSat' or something more helpful?"

"Listen, bro, I know the fire cases are disturbing," said Esposito sympathetically. "'Specially since we almost got barbecued in that abandoned basement. You gotta put it out of your mind."

He topped off Ryan's glass of beer from the pitcher on the table.

"' _Never count someone dead unless you have the body in front of you. And in some cases, not even then_ '," Ryan said as if quoting. "I want to see the dental records on that corpse. I have a bad feeling about this."

"You've been hanging around Castle and his crazy theories too long," said Esposito, shaking his head.

"Call me a superstitious Irishman," Ryan retorted, "but I have to know. I gotta get hold of Castle."

He stood and Espo said, "Where are you going? It's going to take forever for the techs to get through all the evidence from the scene. That body is a low priority right now."

"I'm gonna go back to the morgue. Maybe call Castle's place first. See if he thinks I have anything."

Ryan took off. Esposito shook his head again.

"If I know Castle, he and Beckett are probably 'celebrating' right about now," he said to Vikram. "Good luck getting 'em to answer the door."

Ryan spent the cab ride to the loft on his phone, trying to get hold of Beckett or Castle's land line; he didn't want to call Martha or Alexis for fear he'd freak them out unnecessarily. After all, there was a grain of truth in Esposito's claim that Ryan was susceptible to some of Castle's more creative theories.

Beckett's phone went straight to voicemail; Castle's cell phone had been taken away by his captors, and his home phone signaled busy - probably talking to Martha or Alexis? Ryan wasn't worried. Much. His superstitious Irish heart, though, was headed for high alert.

Eduardo buzzed him in and greeted him; Ryan responded with a wave as he headed for the elevator. Once the doors opened on Castle's floor, he moved quickly to the door of the loft - and paused to listen.

"I love when you cook for me," he heard Beckett call out, her voice moving to his right, and in the background there was a brief clatter from the direction of the kitchen.

 _I'll just take a peek,_ Ryan told himself. _They're not in the middle of anything uninterruptable, obviously. I'll just make sure they're, well, decent, and then I'll close the door and knock like I just got here._

He eased the door open and looked toward the kitchen -

\- just in time to catch movement out of the corner of his eye, from his left, not from the bedroom where he presumed Beckett had gone, but from the dining area next to the fireplace. The glint of metal kicked his instincts into gear and he flung the door wide, shouting, "Drop your weapon! Hands in the air!"

The man whose shocked gaze swung toward Ryan looked familiar - it took a moment for recognition to kick in - but his focus slid away from Castle just long enough for the latter to duck down behind the kitchen counter. The intruder shot in Ryan's direction, missed, and was taking quick aim again when another shot rang out from Ryan's right side.

Beckett, of course.

"Drop it, Caleb!" she called out. "You're outnumbered."

Caleb Brown just sneered and took two long steps toward the corner of the counter, keeping his eyes on Ryan and Beckett.

"You won't fire on me while I've got your husband in my sights," he snapped. He turned his head slightly as if to check Castle's position -

\- then howled and clawed at his face with his free hand. Ryan didn't wonder what had happened; he dove at Caleb, sliding under his aim even as the man was yanked off his feet by some unseen force. Ryan kicked the gun out of Caleb's hand and saw Beckett rush forward to grab it.

Ryan secured Caleb's arms behind his back, while Beckett turned toward the kitchen.

"Castle! What the hell was that?"

"Chili powder," came the breathless reply. "From that Korean place - I got a bottle of it last time we ate there. It was in the cupboard next to the stove."

Castle rose from behind the counter and took a look at his victim; Caleb's eyes were streaming and he was coughing and spitting.

"So you threw it in his face, and then what, yanked on his pants leg?" Ryan guessed.

"He still could have shot at you," Beckett said, but Ryan and Castle exchanged a look of satisfaction. Beckett set the safety on Caleb's gun and trained her own weapon on the man writhing on the floor.

"Call it in, Castle."

When all was said and done, it turned out that Ryan's crazy Castle theory was correct, Caleb was removed from the premises by uniformed officers, the body in the trunk was later identified as one of Mason Wood's minions, and Esposito swore never to sneer at Castle's - or Ryan's - crazy theories again.


End file.
